More foreign students attending Ohio universities

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Enrollment numbers show most public universities in Ohio have significantly bolstered their number of international students in recent years.

The University of Toledo, Miami University and the University of Akron led the way in adding international students between 2007 and 2012, with Toledo increasing its count by more than 700 percent.

An Institute of International Education report says Ohio ranks eighth in the nation in the number of foreign students attending public universities — with 28,401 students across 13 of its public universities.

Foreign students, who pay out-of-state tuition, paid the schools more than $772 million last year.

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Mark Schroeder, director of international admissions at Toledo, said one reason for Toledo's upswing in international enrollment is Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which has sent more than 50,000 Saudi students to American universities and contributed to a boost in Toledo's engineering program.

Private universities in Ohio also are following the trend. C. Todd Jones, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio, said international enrollment at private and independent colleges has grown by more than 50 percent since 2007.